


We Are Young

by JustWriterThings



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2016-03-03
Packaged: 2018-04-27 05:24:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 20,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5035528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustWriterThings/pseuds/JustWriterThings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The next generation of the USWNT is here. College soccer season is about to begin, with Jayce Cruz headlining a Duke team star studded with young talents, talents that descend directly from the legendary 2015 USWNT. </p><p>But with everyone wanting to be the star of the team, will this freshman class be able to survive one year together, let alone four?</p><p>And when budding romances develop between teammates, will they be able to stay focused?</p><p>You'll just have to read to find out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> First off, if this seems familiar, it's because I decided to write this instead of C'est La Vie. The concept is roughly the same and I'm using the same characters but it isn't part of the Roots series. 
> 
> Next, the first chapter is so short because it's more of a prologue to show what's in store, the next chapter will be normal length.

Looking back, I have no idea how we came together.

Seriously, we aren’t really alike. I didn’t even grow up here, in the States, and I somehow became friends with Nina Morgan-Carrasco and Devin Solo, who are both more American than… Well… Let’s just say they’re both pretty American. 

And then there’s Cara Krieger, the center back who’s the brawling type, on and off the pitch. I didn’t think we’d get along at first, but somehow we not only get along, we’re good friends. And Via Costa da Silva, the elusive midfielder… Upon first meeting her, she hardly spoke English and I never thought that I would understand her, let alone become her friend, but it seems that I was wrong, that friends really do come from unexpected places.

I never thought that we would be together, but now that we all are, we have quite the story to tell. 

My name is Jayce Cruz, and this is the story of the best youth class ever. 

But let’s start from square one.

\-----

“Wake up!” called the voice, making Jayce Cruz snap awake and look around, confused. Where was she? Oh, right, she had just arrived at Duke University with her future teammate, Nina Morgan-Carrasco. “We’re here,” Nina said brightly, and it was clear that she had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

Jayce was in the passenger seat next to her, carpooling with her as both of them had landed in Raleigh after long flights, Jayce coming from Costa Rica and Nina coming from Diamond Bar. Except while Nina drove, Jayce had slipped back into her usual nervous personality, not talking much and then sleeping for the majority of the drive to Durham. She was usually pretty chill, but she was nervous around strangers or people she didn't know well, and it was awkward for her to hang around Nina, who was more extroverted.

"My mom is probably somewhere crying over that," chuckled Jayce, stretching as Nina parked. Her mother was Tobin Heath, although she took more of her looks from Tobin's wife Shirley Cruz, maybe because she had grown up in Costa Rica instead of the USA. Of course, Tobin, a UNC alum, wasn't very happy about Jayce's decision to pick Duke, but she had went through with it anyway, deciding not to let her family interfere with her career.

Jayce committing to Duke only led to a bunch of other top recruits committing there, including Nina, Via, Devin Solo, and Cara Krieger. There were also some lesser known players who were joining the Blue Devils, such as Ander Leroux-Dwyer and Skylar Press. 

One daughter of a ex USWNT player led to a whole wave of them committing, apparently, and Jayce was interested to see how the team dynamic would work out with so many players who had been stars in high school.

"My mom wasn't super happy about me not picking Cal," shrugged Nina. "But she's absent most of the time, so I don't really care."

Jayce didn't ask about that, she just climbed out of the car and looked around at the surroundings. It was nearing winter, the leaves had changed colors, and the scene almost looked like something from a postcard. It meant more to someone like Jayce who had grown up in small towns in Costa Rica, this was only her third time being in the United States. "Come on, let's find where our rooms are supposed to be," said Nina, and Jayce nodded, wondering what the future held for both her and her teammates, the next generation of the USWNT.


	2. Ander

Jayce's roommate didn't get into town until a day later than Jayce did, but once she arrived, she sure was interesting enough. Ander Leroux-Dwyer was her name, when asked why she had a male name she just shrugged. But it fit her, she was a contrast from her more feminine mother. 

Yes, she and Sydney Leroux didn't exactly look alike. She definitely retained some of her mother's facial features, though she was also comparable to her father, but her hair was braided into long dreads, tied behind her head with a rubber band, and she wore a hoodie with cut off sleeves that showed off her muscular arms. Her lower left arm was covered in a half sleeve tattoo, with a flame design, while she had a red maple leaf tattoo on her upper left arm. "Is your name a nickname?" Jayce asked as Ander unpacked. She didn't bring much stuff, just a couple changes of clothes and training uniforms, plus a laptop and a large maple leaf drawing that she hung on the wall. 

"It's a name," Ander replied, and Jayce felt bad for asking. She probably got asked about and/or insulted because of her name a lot, even if it wasn't her choice to have this name. 

"Sorry," muttered Jayce, before noticing her driver's license, which was lying on her bed. The name read 'Andrea Leroux-Dwyer'. So it was a nickname. Jayce knew better than to push the subject though, it seemed to annoy Ander and she didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with her roommate, who she would have to live with for the next four years.

Ander wasn't very talkative but Jayce was determined to break the ice, so she attempted to ask some questions. "Where are you from? KC, right?"

"Toronto," Ander said, and that made sense. Her mother was Canadian, so it seemed reasonable for her to be raised in Canada. Jayce wouldn't have been able to guess it from her voice though, she had inherited her father's English accent. "And Manchester," she added, which explained the accent more. 

"Sounds nice, I grew up in Costa Rica," Jayce said, thinking back on her own childhood. It wasn't that Costa Rica was bad... It wasn't, not by any means, but it was kind of boring, and she was glad to be in the USA finally. 

"You're Tobin Heath's kid, right?"

Jayce nodded. "I don't look like her but yeah, she moved to Costa Rica right after she got married, just before I was born." 

"I grew up in Manchester, moved to Toronto when I was sixteen," Ander replied, pulling off her sweatshirt. She seemed completely oblivious to Jayce being in the room, as she stripped down to her sports bra and changed into a Duke practice jersey, and Jayce was able to see that she had a tattoo on her back, but she couldn't see the details of it. "You coming to the first practice? It's optional."

Jayce shrugged. "Yeah, why not? We can meet the rest of the team."

\-----

After her semi awkward conversation with Ander, Jayce headed to the Duke football pitch where most of the team was assembling for a first practice. Coach Carli Lloyd was talking to the players about something when Jayce and Ander arrived. "You're late," she said, stopping her conversation. 

"It's not even a mandatory practice," sighed Ander, rolling her eyes. Considering that she was 6'3, nobody complained, judging that making her mad likely was not a good idea. Jayce was pretty big herself, six feet tall, but Ander was obviously the tallest one on the squad. 

"Well now that you're here, come meet the rest of the freshman class," Carli said, pointing to a group that was making small talk amongst themselves. 

"Hey, I'm Jayce Cruz," Jayce said to the group, and Nina grinned.

"Well, I already know you... That's Skylar Press over there, I see you've already met Ander, the tanned one is Via Costa da Silva dos Aveiro, or something like that, I don't know how Brazilian names work," chuckled Nina. "Oh, and the child is Devin Solo."

Devin punched Nina on the arm for that, and everyone laughed. She did have a baby face, she had to be eighteen or nineteen but she looked fourteen or fifteen. "I'm the oldest one here," Devin groaned, but even she was grinning. 

"The sophomores are over there. You see those two who are making out by the bleachers? That's Harlyn O'Reilly and Cyra Brian. And that sophomore that looks like she's in her late twenties, that's Avril Wambach, and before you ask, she's only nineteen. I think we're supposed to have one more freshman here... Cara Krieger."

Everyone looked around for Cara but we don't see her. "She was super nervous, she must have ran off," Devin shrugged. 

Coach Lloyd seemed to be busy talking to her assistant, Kelley O'Hara, and practice hadn't officially started yet, so most of the players started warmups by themselves. Jayce was stretching when a voice behind her made her jump.

"Wanna help me win a drink?" Avril asked, and Jayce was curious as to what this was about.

"What do I have to do?" 

"I bet Harley that she isn't the fastest player on the team this year, she has to buy me a drink if one of you guys beats her in a race," explained Avril, and Jayce smiled and nodded.

"I can beat anybody in a forty yard dash," she replied, almost cockily. Jayce wasn't a macho type usually, but when it came to her speed, she loved to brag. 

"Oh really, now?" Harlyn asked, approaching the two along with Ander. "We'll see about that."

The three lined up, and Jayce got into a runner's stance, like she was an Olympic sprinter. "Go!" shouted Avril, and all three of them burst out of their stances and accelerated.

Jayce took the early lead, but Ander was pretty close behind her, and Harlyn wasn't that far behind. Just as Jayce was going to cross the finish line, her hamstring tightened and she fell forward, letting Ander run past her. "Nobody's faster than me!" Ander shouted, excitedly high fiving Nina and Devin and Cyra. 

"And someone owes me a drink," laughed Avril, pointing at a pouting Harlyn. 

"Whatever, I would've won if my hamstrings didn't always screw me over," sighed Jayce, rubbing her hurting leg. 

Nina kneeled next to her and began massaging her leg for her, making Ander roll her eyes. "Mo, do you have to flirt with everybody?"

"I'm just being a good teammate," Nina said innocently, ignoring how Jayce's face had gone red. "Unlike you, you didn't even offer to buy her a drink tonight."

"Uh, guys? Where are we gonna get drinks from? None of us are over twenty one."

Nina grinned and laughed like it was obvious. "You seriously don't have a fake ID? Don't worry, though, I got you covered, babe."

"Oh, Morgan, always the seductress," Ander chuckled, giving Jayce the impression that they knew each other from somewhere else. "Don't worry, Jayce, she's like that with everyone."

They were interrupted by Carli approaching them. "We leave you alone for five minutes and someone already pulled a hamstring?" she asked. "Well, let's start practice... Time to see what you kids can do."


	3. Someone That I Used To Know

Jayce looked around the bar for help as a very drunk, very seductive, Nina draped her arms around her, sliding closer to her. Her face couldn't get any redder than it was then, and she waved to Ander for help. Ander either didn't see or ignored her, she was with Avril and Harlyn, watching a hockey game on a TV that was mounted to the wall. 

"Ander!" Jayce called out, and the taller girl turned around and rolled her eyes when she saw the situation. 

"Knock it off, eh!" Ander shouted in Nina's direction, making her retreat a little bit. Nina had somehow flirted with all the freshmen over the course of the night, but she seemed to like Jayce in particular. That was even more true after she had downed a few pints. "You're even worse than the time we were in Cologne," she added. So they did know each other from somewhere else. But where? Then it hit Jayce... They must have been the stars of the U-17 team before graduating from high school. Jayce had missed international play, not getting a youth team call up because of her hamstrings making trouble for her. 

"Hey, you were pretty bad too! I'm not the one who drank three pints and then jumped into the Rhine river in the middle of November!" 

Ander blushed with embarrassment. "You just had to bring that up, didn't you? And I didn't drink that much..."

Nina rolled her eyes and turned back to Jayce. "She really did drink three pints and then jump into the river... Guess who saved her from getting hypothermia and drowning? Me!" 

"Eh! Nina! At least I'm not the one who wakes up in random beds, sometimes in entirely different states!" Ander fired back, and this time it went from simple banter between teammates to Nina actually getting her feelings hurt. 

"I'm not a fucking turncoat though," Nina mouthed, and Ander's face flushed. She got up from her seat, finally turning from the TV, and she marched over to where Jayce and Nina were sitting.

"That's a low blow, Nina," she said, her feelings more hurt than Nina's. Jayce started to back away slowly, thinking of how to break the two up. But she didn't do so just yet. She wanted to see where this was going first. 

"What are you going to do? Whack me for 'avin a giggle?" asked Nina, mocking Ander's English accent. "Gonna go Green Street on me, eh?" she added, in a fake Canadian accent. "Get real. This isn't-"

"Hey guys, maybe we should just-" started Jayce, and both of them glared at her before she could finish. Avril groaned loudly, like she was used to this. 

"Mate, if you wanna go we can take this outside, and I'll show you what the ICF is made of," Ander replied, cracking her joints and knuckles. Nina just shrugged and followed her outside, with Jayce close behind.

Even though Nina was athletic, it was obvious that Ander would destroy her in a fight, so Jayce decided to try and break things up. As Ander was about to throw a punch, she wrapped her arms around her from behind, holding her back. "C'mon guys, I thought you were friends?"

"Friends don't take cheap shots!" Ander said, but she wasn't struggling against Jayce's hold. 

"Friends don't call each other sluts," Nina replied, a serious edge to her voice. 

"Well maybe if you stopped sleeping with so many of your teammates, you wouldn't have that reputation, eh?" 

"And maybe if you stopped acting so much like your mother, we wouldn't call you a turncoat," Nina said cooly, and that made Ander go off completely. She burst out of Jayce's grasp, tackling Nina and punching her in the mouth. But that's when they heard sirens in the distance.

Ander sighed dramatically. "Come on Jayce, we have to go back to our room. Unless you want the cops to think you're the one who started this."

\-----

It was like the incident hadn't happened. They were in their room together, late at night, but neither one wanted to sleep yet. Ander was watching that hockey game still, it seemed that the Maple Leafs were playing, which made sense considering Ander was wearing one of their jerseys. 

"You're a Leafs fan?"

"Damn straight," Ander replied brightly, grinning. "Since I was twelve or thirteen."

Jayce was interested in how into hockey she was. She seemed to be more than a fan... She wasn't just someone who liked the sport, it was obvious from the way she watched that she was passionate about it. "What got you into hockey, growing up in Manchester?"

Ander just pulled out a picture from her backpack, showing it to Jayce. It was showing her standing next to an attractive looking guy in a red jersey. "I met one of my mother's friends, who I idolized... He said I should start playing, and it took off from there."

She showed a second picture, showing her wearing the same kind of red jersey, albeit an updated version, celebrating a goal with other red-clad players. "Didn't watch the Winter Olympics last year?" she asked, smirking.

"Nah, I was too busy with the state playoffs and training for that. You played there?"

Ander nodded, her smile growing. "I didn't just play, I became the youngest player to score a game winner on the women's side of the game. We beat the USA 4-3 after overtime, I scored a one timer from the blue line to win gold for us. My coaches with the football team I played for weren't happy that I bailed on them during the playoffs to play my other sport in the Olympics, but it was worth it."

"Are you going to play two sports at Duke?"

A sad look crossed Ander's face. "No, I had to quit hockey. But that's another story for another day."

Jayce shrugged and wondered why Ander had to quit. “Was it because of your parents, somehow?” she asked.

“It was because of someone that I used to know,” Ander replied bitterly. “It’s in the past. No point bringing it up again.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Jayce muttered. “Why did Nina call you a turncoat? Aren’t you two friends?”

Ander just glared at Jayce, making her shrink back, but then she sighe and lowered her head. “Our relationship is… Complicated. Yeah, we’re friends, but sometimes we hate each other, we actually go back far, unlike everyone else on this team. Me, her, and Avril, this isn’t our first time playing together.”

“I can tell from the way you three talk to each other. You were on the U-17 team?”

Ander nodded. “We were the best… They called us the Texas Rangers, because we always beat Mexico. You should have been with us, Jayce, it was great. We won the championship at that level, that’s why Duke noticed us.”

“What made you three come to Duke, anyway? I mean, I know it’s a nice school but we’ve always been the redheaded stepchild of the ACC, behind Carolina and Virginia,” chuckled Jayce.

“Coach Lloyd sold us on it. Told us we’d be part of a culture change, that we would change the reputation of Duke. I wanted to do something different, I didn’t want to be just another Carolina player.”

“Same here, I don’t really want to follow in my mom’s footsteps. I love her, but I’m tired of being compared to her,” sighed Jayce.

Suddenly Ander changed the subject, like she didn’t want to have to talk about her own parents. “Hey, are you dating someone?” she asked. “Is that why you freak out when Nina flirts with you?”

“What? No, I just… Uh… I don’t know if I want to be with a girl… I was with a girl in high school and it ended badly,” Jayce explained. 

“Oh,” Ander replied softly, before turning her full attention to the TV again. Her conversations with Jayce were often awkward, but Jayce liked talking to her. She was interesting. “Jayce?”

“Yeah?” Jayce asked as she got up to go to the bathroom. 

“I don’t know what happened, but we’re not all like that. Like your ex, I mean.”

“I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, there was a (slight) Sydney Crosby cameo in this chapter.
> 
> So, guys... Can you wait for the shipping to start? Because I can't wait...


	4. Hazardous For Your Sanity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't feeling good this week but I'm back, I should also have a chapter of Rivals up this evening or tomorrow.

Duke opened the season on the road at Missouri, and not everyone was happy about that. "Why did it have to be Mizzou?" groaned Ander, as she and Jayce got off the bus that was taking them from the airport to the hotel. 

"What's wrong with Mizzou? I hear the parties here are good," Jayce said, picking up her bags and following Ander.

"Yeah but my mom is going to be here," Ander sighed.

"And that's bad because...?"

Before she could answer, the two were interrupted by a voice. "Yo Ander! What are you doing here?"

Ander whirled around like she had seen a ghost, and Jayce saw that the voice was that of a brunette who was wearing a Canada Soccer shirt and a pair of warm up pants. "We're playing here tomorrow, what are you doing here?" asked Ander.

"We play here too, we're staying in KC for the match against Saint Louis," says the girl, and Jayce realizes that she's a UNC player. Her face looks familiar, she was a big time recruit, but Jayce couldn't remember her name. "I see you brought a pet," the girl adds snidely.

"What? No! She's... She's straight," Ander blurts out, blushing. "Leave her out of this, okay?"

"Leave me out of what?" asked Jayce, and the other girl grinned. 

"Don't listen to her, Jayce," the girl said. "I'm trying to help-"

Before she could finish, Nina walked by and gave her a light shove as she did. "Piss off, Erica..." she muttered. "You're literally always up to no good."

"Aren't we all?" asked Erica, grinning, and Nina flipped her off.

"C'mon," Nina said, and Ander and Jayce followed her into the hotel, getting into the elevator to head to an upper floor. 

"Who was that?" Jayce asked, confused. Should she have recognized Erica?

"That was Erica Mcleod, I advise you to stay away from her," Ander said, leaning against the wall. "Hanging out with her is hazardous for your sanity."

"Where do you know her from?"

"We played on the same Toronto youth team," Ander answered. "We were... Friends, until... Never mind, it's a long story," she added as the elevator doors opened. 

"Yo Jayce, you're rooming with me by the way," Nina said, putting her arm around Jayce's shoulder and grinning. She loved to make Jayce squirm, and she was doing a good job of it now.

"Oh boy..." Jayce muttered, and Nina smirked, moving closer to her.

"You're cute when you blush, you know that?" 

"I'm Costa Rican. We don't blush," she replied, rolling her eyes. 

"Oh yes you do, you should look in the mirror. Your face goes so red, it's really cute," Nina chuckled as they walked into the hotel room. Surprisingly, there was only one bed.

"This gets better and better," Jayce said, putting her bags down. "You didn't arrange this, did you?"

"Nah, I'm just as surprised as you are," Nina said, grinning. "I guess that just means we'll have to share tonight."

\-----

Skylar Press looked up as her roommate Cara Krieger walked in, wearing a sleeveless shirt that showed off her toned arms. Cara played defender... Or keeper. She'd played both positions in high school. She didn't look like a defender though, she had a slim figure and long legs that made it look like she was more suited as a forward. 

Cara didn't talk much, she was pretty awkward around others. Her appearance was awkward too, her clothes a little bit too big and seemingly picked randomly, her brown hair a mess that was tied behind their head to keep it out the way. "Hey," she said, awkwardly trying to break the ice. 

"Hey," replied Skylar, looking up from her phone again. So much for finishing the chapter of the story she had been reading, which was a USWNT slashfic. 

“Do you want to go out to eat? Nina and Jayce and Harley and Cyra are going to get some barbecue from downtown, if you want to come,” Cara asked. 

“So all the couples,” chuckled Skylar, smiling. “What, you don’t want to be the third wheel by yourself?”

“What? No, Jayce and Nina aren’t even a couple… You don’t have to come if you don’t-”

“It’s no problem, I wasn’t really doing anything anyway,” Skylar said, getting up and brushing her long hair out of her face. _Damn, she’s beautiful,_ thought Cara, her body growing warm. But it saddened her to realize that such a beautiful girl would never return those feelings about her. She wasn’t that attractive, with her messy hair and awkwardly long legs, her figure that was neither really athletic nor really good to look at. _She’s out of my league._

And it wasn’t that Cara’s only problem was her body, that was far from the truth. No, she had other problems, ones that would likely scare off potential lovers. Most girls wouldn’t want to date someone as nervous as her, someone who acted nervous and then started fights as a result of not being good in pressure situations. Most girls wouldn’t date someone like her, someone followed by trouble all the time.

That wasn’t going to make Cara give up, though, because the one thing she had learned in life and football was that you always had to at least try.

\-----

Devin and Avril were the two who didn’t head out to eat, opting to stay back at the hotel and relax in their room. “I’m booooooored,” moaned Devin as the movie they were watching finished. She didn’t just look like a kid, she had inherited Kelley O’Hara’s childlike energy, leading to her quickly getting bored and sometimes irritating the others. 

“Aren’t you always?” asked Avril, knowing that when Devin wasn’t playing, practicing, or gossiping about her teammates, or doing something crazy, she was always bored. 

“I’m even more bored than usual,” she sighed, getting up and walking to where her bags were and finding her notebook. Sitting back down on the bed, she opened it up to one of the middle pages and looked at a complicated looking diagram. “I guess I should update this today…”

“The hell is that?” Avril asked, leaning closer to see the diagram. It had all the names of the Duke players, and there were a bunch of lines drawn between them.

“It’s a shipping chart,” Devin replied matter of factly, smiling, and Avril groaned.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, you seriously made a… A shipping chart for your own team?”

Devin just smiled more, and Avril rolled her eyes. “It helps with keeping track of who’s together.”

“You do realize we only have, like, one couple, right? Cyra and Harley,” stated Avril.

“They _want_ you to think that there’s only one couple, I’m 90% sure that Ander has the hots for Nina,” Devin said, smirking.

“No offense, but you just got here, and there’s no way those two are together. Weren’t you around when they blew up at each other and fought in the parking lot?”

“That means nothing!” Devin said enthusiastically. “At my high school, there were two girls who acted like they hated each other in public, but they really loved each other… Ander and Nina might act like they’re enemies, but they probably are actually making out in the bathrooms or something when we’re all not looking.”

Avril just stared blankly at her. “Yeah right. If anything, Nina is wet over Jayce. Not that I blame her.”

“I know I’m right, I’m going to prove it to you. I’ll catch Ander and Nina kissing, and then you’ll know I’m right,” Devin replied. “Just ask anyone from my high school, my gaydar is never wrong.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are there actually secret couples on the team or is Devin's gaydar actually wrong? 
> 
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> I can neither confirm nor deny either of those questions.


	5. Can't Hurt

The Nepalese winds whipped across the face of the two girls who were heading towards the top of the mountains, and at that moment the brown haired girl began to doubt why she was here. "You're batshit insane," she told the girl in front of her, who promptly turned and rolled her eyes, giving her a snarky grin.

"So I've been told. Nobody is forcing you to come, or to stay. Nadine and Thomas told me I needed to learn focus, so I came here by myself to find someone to teach that to me. Nobody asked you to follow," she said, and the brunette sighed.

"I wasn't going to let you come here by yourself. You know that," the brunette replied. "And it's still crazy that we're out in the middle of Nepal so you can find a guru to teach you focus."

"Where the hell else am I supposed to go?" the girl shouted, exploding in anger suddenly. "It's not like I can go home, like you can! Everyone west of the Ruhr hates me, and they practically ran me out of town last time I was in Bonn! Why don't you just go back to Düsseldorf and leave me alone if you're going to complain so much!?"

The brunette wrapped her arms around the girl's waist, to calm her down. It seemed to work, as she took some deep breaths to slow her anger. "I can't do that and you know it."

"I know," the girl said eventually. "Come on, it's dark soon and we'll freeze if we take too long."

\-----

After practice the day of the game, Duke's players had some free time. Right now everyone gathered in Nina's room and they watched a replay of the World Cup Final from three years ago, when the USWNT won their fifth star and denied a German team that was chasing history. 

Well, the USA hardly deserved that win. They scored a handball to equalize against Germany and then in the 3rd minute of extra time in the second half, it came down to a penalty save to keep them in the game.

"Chloe Sasic steps up to take the penalty," the announcer started. "She's only fifteen, the youngest player to cap and to score for Germany, and she can put the US away if she makes this."

"She looks just like her mom," Jayce commented. She wondered what had become of Chloe after the World Cup, also. 

"She starts her run, sends it to the left, THE SHOT IS SAVED BY NAEHER!" shouted the announcer, and Jayce could see Devin watching with a lot of interest, studying the penalty saving form of Alyssa Naeher's daughter.

Cyra and Harley both laughed at Sasic, who broke out in tears after her penalty was saved. "Hey Harley, you should be more sympathetic," Avril told her. "I heard she tried to off herself a couple nights after that game, wasn't successful though."

"What did she try to do?" Jayce asked, now feeling bad for laughing at her a bit. 

"I don't know exactly but the word is that she was going to jump off a ledge... Her teammates got her down but then she opened her wrists the next night," explained Avril. "Said that she couldn't go home because everyone would laugh at her."

"Aw, I wanna talk to her and see if she's feeling better. Does anyone here have her number?"

"Oh, Jayce, always the peacemaker, always the one who wants everyone to feel good," Nina said sarcastically and dismissively. "Who cares about her?"

"Damn, Nina... Why do you have to act so ruthless?" Ander asked, and Nina got up.

"Nice girls finish last," she said ominously, leaving everyone to wonder what she meant.

\-----

"Why do you only wear your first name on the back of your jersey?" Jayce asked Ander as they walked out onto the pitch before the match versus Missouri. 

"Cause I'm not my mother," Ander said as if it was the most obvious thing ever. "Or my father for that matter." 

"Your mom seems nice, I dunno what you have against her," Jayce remarked, and for a second it looked like Ander was about to take a swing at her. "Sorry," she added quickly.

"She's nice to everyone except me," sighed Ander. "She doesn't realize that I'm different from her, that..."

She was cut off by Carli waving everyone over to discuss the game plan. "We'll talk about this later. Let's focus on the match."

And they did focus on the match. Duke would dominate the first half possession and break through in the second half, using speed to break down the Mizzou defense. Nina took a long pass from Cara and played the ball out wide to Jayce, who burst around the edge and passed back inside, assisting Nina for her first college goal. 

That wasn't the only goal of the match. Skylar managed to slip a through ball for Jayce through the defensive line, and Jayce deked the keeper to score in the 73rd minute. She was almost shocked that she had managed to score, but she wasted no time celebrating, making a heart symbol with her hands over her number. "Goal for Duke," the announcer said unenthusiatically. "Scored by number two. Jayce Cruz." 

"Hell yeah!" Ander shouted, emphatically slapping Jayce on the arm in celebration and embracing her. "That's why you're number one!"

Jayce grinned but she could see Nina rolling her eyes in the background, looking thoroughly pissed for some reason. 

"Yeah..." Jayce said but her attention was on Nina, not herself. Why was she acting so strange today? They would find out later, for now they had a game to finish.

\-----

The team celebrated at a KC bar, and Nina managed to get drunk enough to act happier than she had all day. Jayce was pretty drunk too, after Devin and Ander had convinced her to take a ton of shots in celebration of her first goal. 

Which was bad news for her, because she didn't have the sense to not talk to the girl who approached her when the others were talking. Erica. "Hey Jayce, nice goal earlier," Erica told her, grinning. Her smile was perfect, her teeth were perfectly white and something about the way she smiled automatically made Jayce feel good inside. 

"Thanks but it was pretty much a tap in," Jayce said, blushing. She was like this when attention was on her, she didn't exactly handle it the best.

"Tap in? No way, that was a tap in! That was amazing, the way you went around the keeper," Erica chuckled. "You know, the others will get upset if they see me hanging around here, you want to go for a walk outside?"

Jayce, pretty drunk and not thinking about how Ander had told her to stay away from Erica, shrugged and nodded. "Sure. It can't hurt, can it?"


	6. Advice

Devin Solo and Vitoria "Via" Da Silva were usually easy going, and usually didn't get scared quickly. That was different now as both of them were stuck in a closet in Nina's hotel room, as they listened in on the conversation that was happening, that they hadn't been expecting. Devin had dragged Via over here with her to snoop for something that could prove her theory that Ander and Nina were dating, but they hadn't found anything and they had been forced to hide when Nina returned, followed by Ander.

They could only hear snippets of the conversation, but it sounded intense. "I'm not telling you no, I'm telling you to back off and wait until after the season," Ander said, sighing.

"Why? Because you're jealous?" asked Nina. "Why don't you back off? I don't want your advice."

“I just don't want to see her get hurt, especially not during our season!” Ander answered, frustrated. 

“And you've never left anyone hurt and broken, Andrea?” Nina muttered, using Ander’s given name. Something she only did when she was really serious. 

“Oh, come on! You're exaggerating!” Ander shouted, and Devin leaned down to try and get a better view through the bottom of the closet door. 

“Tell Erica that,” Nina said, and there was a brief silence.

“Fine, Nina. Do whatever you want. I'm blaming you if the team chemistry gets killed as a result of it,” Ander finally replied, and they seemed to be done arguing. 

“That’s not going to happen,” Nina said quietly, and then Ander turned and left. But Devin began to panic when Nina went to her closet, opening it to look for something and finding two of her teammates crammed inside. “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO DOING IN MY CLOSET?” she shouted, and Devin was at loss for words.

“Her fault! It is her fault!” Via quickly said, pointing at Devin, whose face paled.

“I just wanted to borrow a shirt from you and you were going to walk in so we hid,” Devin blurted out. “It’s not like I was spying on you or anything-”

Nina cut off Devin, grabbing her by the collar and pulling her out of the closet. “Yeah right. Get out before I actually get angry.”

“You already sound pissed off,” Devin muttered as she and Via walked towards the door. “What were you and Ander talking about?”

Nina ignored Devin, glaring at her. “Private stuff,” she eventually sighed. “Just go, okay? I’m tired from earlier, I need to rest.”

With that, Devin and Via left, wondering what the hell they had just listened to.

\-----

Jayce spent much of the evening and night with Erica, who was actually quite nice. She had been a sleeper recruit and not one of the top recruits, actually, so she was more humble than most of Jayce’s teammates. 

“Why do my teammates not like you?” she asked as the two stumbled out of another bar. 

“Eh, I had a messy breakup with one of them, don’t worry about it,” Erica said nonchalantly. “And I’m sure they don’t want you to be friends with a UNC player.”

“You should’ve came to Duke… What position are you, keeper?” Jayce asked, leaning on Erica for support. Her alcohol tolerance wasn’t that high, and she began to regret drinking so many tequila shots. 

“Yep, just like my mother,” Erica chuckled. “Not just any keeper either, the best youth keeper Canada’s ever seen. I don’t mean to brag, that’s actually what coach LeBlanc told me during the U-17 championship.”

“I’m surprised you and Ander don’t get along then,” laughed Jayce. “She’s the most Canadian person I know, she’s into hockey, she says ‘eh’ all the time, she even has a maple leaf tattoo on her arm.”

“She’s not a bad person, she went through some shitty stuff, some of which is my fault,” Erica admitted. She was going to say more but she stopped when she saw Jayce keel over and grab her stomach. 

“I don’t feel so well,” Jayce said, fighting the urge to throw up. “Too much tequila…”

And so Erica was faced with a choice. Should she send Jayce back to her teammates, totally wasted and feeling sick, or should she take her back to her hotel room to take care of her, at risk of pissing off Nina, Ander, and Avril? It was clear what she had to do.

“Come on. We’re going back to my room, I can’t give you back to your team when you’re feeling like that,” Erica said, letting her put her arm around her shoulder for support. They somehow managed to get through the hotel lobby and hallways without being seen by any Duke players, which was probably aided by the fact that half the team was still out partying.

“Your teammates won’t be mad that you’re helping a Duke player?” Jayce asked, finally letting go of Erica and collapsing onto the bed. 

“They’ll get over it,” Erica replied, sitting next to her on the bed and feeling her forehead. “You’re hot.”

“What?” Jayce asked, blushing and looking confused. 

“No, not like that…” said Erica, laughing. “I mean literally, you’re hot. You’re running a fever. I’m gonna go get some medicine from the store next door, stay here, alright?”

Jayce nodded and rested her head on a pillow, closing her eyes. Maybe she would be able to sleep off her hangover, if she could make herself sleep that is.

\-----

It was growing dark and Chloe Sasic and Valerie Mittag still weren’t at their destination. “How much longer?” asked Valerie, as the winds whipped her face, making her adjust the thick scarf she was wearing. The scarf helped a little bit, but the area around her eyes and nose was getting stung by the wind and the snow, making the walk feel way longer than it was.

“I think that’s the house up there,” Chloe said, pointing out a shape in the distance, obscured by so much snow blowing through the air. It was on the side of the road, located high on the hills, its lights illuminating the air around it like stars shining through a thick fog. 

“So we’re finally here… Was it worth it coming all the way from Bonn?”

Chloe nodded, moving with renewed energy. “Yeah. You’ll see. This will all work out, I can feel it.”

\-----

“Has anyone seen Jayce?” asked Nina, as a bunch of the players got back from the bars. 

“Nah,” Skylar answered. “She was with us and then she just disappeared, we thought she went to the bathroom or something but we didn't see her again.”

They were interrupted by a familiar voice behind them. “Hey Nina,” said Alex Morgan, making both girls turn around. “Staying out too late again I see.”

“Hi Mom,” Nina said, hugging Alex and ignoring her statement. “You didn't tell me you were coming to KC. You were at the game?”

“I actually didn't get in until half an hour ago. I'm here on business,” Alex explained, referencing her work as a sports agent. After retiring from football, she decided to keep going down the sports career path, moving into the work of an agent. “Speaking of business, do you know where your teammate Jayce is?”

“Haven't seen her… She was with us earlier though. Let me call her, I know she has her phone with her,” Nina said, taking out her phone and dialing Jayce’s number. The phone ringed and ringed and ringed but nobody picked up. “She's not answering… I wonder where she is.”

Nina asked around and nobody else had seen Jayce, so eventually everyone went to bed without her. She would turn up eventually, right?

\-----

There were two players in every room, except for Vitoria’s room. She was lucky enough to get a room to herself because of having an odd number of players, but unfortunately she didn't deal well with that. Sleeping alone, that was something she had a hard time with. When she was in Brazil she was fine, but being alone in a foreign country, away from her parents and her friends back home, it made her feel very lonely to have a room to herself. 

That was why she texted Devin in the middle of the night, asking her one friend here to come sleep with her, to keep her company. To her surprise, Devin showed up a few minutes later, after replying that she hadn't gone to sleep yet. “Thanks for this,” Via said, smiling as she rolled over to face Devin. 

“Avril wanted the room to herself anyways,” Devin shrugged, before heading to the bathroom for a shower. When she came back, she wore nothing more than her underwear and a white tee shirt that was close to see through. It was an awkward moment when Via set her eyes on her and Devin saw her looking. Eventually they both blushed and looked down, and Devin climbed into the bed with her, pulling the covers over them. 

That was even more awkward, especially when Via put her arms around Devin’s waist, lying close to her and absorbing her body heat. “You really do get lonely when you're on your own, don't you?” she asked, surprised at how tight Via was holding onto her.

“The doctor says separation anxiety,” Via explained. “I do not like being away from Brazil. I stress easily.”

“Well you don't have to worry, because I'm here,” Devin said reassuringly. “I'm not going to let anything happen to you while you're in the US.”

“Thank you… The last time I played in the United States, I had a panic attack on the pitch and my teammates from Brazil still make fun of me,” Via sighed, thinking back. 

“I'm sorry but that means your teammates are a bunch of insensitive assholes,” Devin replied. “It's not like you can control that you have anxiety, they shouldn't make fun of you for it.”

“I do not like my team very much,” Via said after a long pause. “I may… What's the word? Defect. I may defect to the USA when the World Cup comes.”

“I'd love it if you did that, assuming we can both make the roster,” Devin said, grinning. “Who knows? Maybe you'll shock everyone with how good you are and they'll call you up.”

“Maybe. Hopefully.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sense ships about to set sail! 
> 
> Also I forgot to say earlier that I'm on Tumblr, if you want to talk about my stories or whatever just message me at justwriterthingsblog.tumblr.com.


	7. Called Up

Jayce was completely and totally hungover for most of the night, but Erica took good care of her and eventually she was able to get to sleep and wake up next morning feeling semi-decent. Erica definitely wasn’t as bad as the others made her out to be.

“You woke?” asked Erica, who was just walking back into the room with a cup of coffee. 

Jayce nodded, sitting up and rubbing her head. It didn't hurt like yesterday, but she still felt a little sick. “And still hungover…” she muttered. “I'm never drinking again.”

“That's what I said my first time too,” Erica laughed, flashing that smile of hers. “Check your texts… You got quite an important message earlier this morning.”

Jayce picked up her phone and turned it on, opening the messages app and wondering what she would find. She almost dropped her phone when she saw the contents of the message. “No way,” she gasped. 

It was from Lauren Holiday, the manager of the USWNT, and they wanted her to skip her next college game, away against Northwestern, to play Mexico in San Antonio. Apparently out of the Duke players, Nina would also be getting a call up, her first for the senior team. The Mexico match was a warmup for CONCACAF qualifying for the World Cup next year, and Jayce knew it was a big chance to break into the squad. Before she could talk herself out of it, she texted back that she would be there for the game later that week. “I should go tell the others… I have to make sure they aren't upset that I'm bailing on them for the Northwestern match.”

“They'll get over it,” Erica shrugged. “I see Nina got a call up too. Figures. She probably got her mom to pull strings.”

“Nina is a great player, she deserves this,” Jayce said, getting up. “I'm glad she's coming. She has more experience with the national team than I do, you can blame my hamstrings on that.”

“She's head over heels for you, you know,” Erica chuckled. 

“How do you know? You guys played together?”

“No, but me and Ander did, and she knows a lot about Nina, trust me on that one. I junk she flirts with everyone but there's a reason why she flirts with you more than anyone else,” Erica replied.

And as Jayce thought about it, that made more and more sense. 

\-----

The team was downstairs, getting breakfast. Jayce had been planning on sitting with Ander but she was already with Avril, Cyra, and Harley, so she sat down by the window, by herself, with a smaller than usual plate of food since she was still kind of sick.

“Hey! Jayce!” said a voice, and she turned to see Nina, who approached her and sat across from her at the table. “I've been looking for you… I got you coffee,” she added, handing her a cup.

“Huh, thanks,” Jayce said, looking at it. This wasn't the instant coffee that the hotel served, this was a grande quad two pump non-fat no-whip mocha from Starbucks, and Nina had somehow memorized her complicated order to get it. “Sorry for bailing on you last night…” she added before letting her voice trail. She wasn't sure how to explain the reason why she hadn't been with the others. 

“About that, where were you? Did you run away because I did something to offend you?” Nina asked, frowning. “Are you still mad at me for daring you to kiss me?”

Jayce laughed at that, remembering how the night they had arrived in KC, the team had played a game of truth or dare and Nina had dared Jayce to kiss her. Jayce, not one to back out of a dare, did it before getting super flustered and running out of the room. “Nah. I might have freaked out but I'd do it again in a heartbeat to be honest,” Jayce said, testing the waters a bit here. She knew Nina liked to flirt with her, so now she was turning the tables slightly and seeing how Nina reacted when she did the same. 

“You would?” Nina asked, obviously surprised, before returning to her more collected demeanor. 

Jayce blushed, knowing this wasn't really something she wanted to do, she had just wanted to get a reaction out of Nina. But now that she had said that she would, she wasn't going to back down. “Sure, it wasn't that bad last time.”

And so before Jayce could say anything else, Nina leaned across the table and quickly kissed her on the lips, surprising her and nearly making her drop her drink. Jayce grinned, keeping her composure as Nina pulled back. “Was it bad this time?”

“Nope,” said Jayce. And then they were interrupted by Avril, who pointed them out to Devin, who was on the other side of the room. 

“I TOLD YOU!” Avril shouted, referring to how Devin had assumed Ander and Nina were together and how Avril hadn't believed her. 

“What happened?” asked Ander, who had missed them kissing. 

“Nina just kissed Jayce, which proves once and for all that you two aren't together,” Avril said smugly. 

“You know Jayce is straight, right? She told me that she didn't have a good time when she dated a girl before,” Ander stated. She sounded skeptical, almost like she didn't want what had just happened to be true. 

“She only says she's straight to make herself harder to get,” Devin said after making her way to the table the others were at. “But everything about her screams ‘bi girl.’”

Ander rolled her eyes but Devin just continued like she was totally sure about this. “Seriously, how many straight girls do you know with a haircut like that?”

Unfortunately, she said that a bit too loudly and Jayce heard and instantly knew that she was talking about her. She had a medium length haircut, with her hair swept up in the front, almost like a kind of mohawk. She liked it, but she was really self conscious about what others thought of her looks, and Devin’s comment made her freak out and get up. “What's wrong?” Nina asked, but she was already heading to her room. Of course, she was self conscious about her looks in general, but her haircut was something that she had been bullied for in the past, so when it was brought up again, she was really affected.

“Wait up!” Ander shouted, running after her and ducking into the elevator as the doors shut. “You look upset, is something wrong?”

“Devin… She said I look like a lesbian,” Jayce explained, pushing the button to go to the floor their rooms were on. “Why would she say something like that?”

“She wasn't trying to insult you,” Ander sighed. “As far as I know, she's only into girls. So why would she insult you like that? And there's nothing wrong with-”

“I know! But it hits too close to home, that's all,” Jayce replied defensively. “There were these girls at my school who always made fun of me for my hair.”

The elevator doors opened and Jayce stepped out, followed by Ander. “Jayce… Devin didn't even know about that. And I don't think it's a bad haircut, I think it looks beautiful.” 

“Yeah, right,” Jayce muttered, but she was calming down. She had overreacted a lot over a comment that she didn't even know the context of or if it was even about her. “What were you guys talking about anyway?”

“If you're straight or not, since Avril saw you kissing Nina,” Ander said. “I told them that you are, Devin doesn't believe it.”

“I don't know what I am, really,” Jayce shrugged. “After this international trip I'll know, I guess.”

“Fancying a national team player, eh?” asked Ander, laughing. 

“Maybe. Don't we have another player that's going to be joining us from the national team later?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about her,” answered Ander. “Paige Donovan. Junior transferring from UCLA, apparently she hated the place and had serious dad issues. A forward like me, in more ways than one.”

“Wait, I remember her, she's the one who had that hat trick against Colombia in that friendly last year,” said Jayce. “It'll be interesting to meet her, considering I was watching her on TV just a year ago.”

“Take care of yourself, okay?” Ander asked, patting Jayce on the shoulder. “Don't blow a knee or something in a friendly. Your college season is more important.”

“Yeah. Here's to hoping my hamstrings actually let me play,” sighed Jayce. “And here's to hoping I live up to all the hype…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What will happen next? Can't say other than that Paige is going to shake up the ships.


	8. Stage Fright

Paige sighed as she arrived at the training ground for the first training before the Mexico match. She was jet lagged from traveling from Los Angeles, and she was pretty mad from earlier arguments with her dad, who wanted her to stay at UCLA even though she wanted to transfer to Duke. Of course, she had already completed her transfer, it would be finished this week and she would be flying out to Durham after the match.

“Hey Paige,” said Bria Naeher, the starting keeper of the USWNT. A grad of the University of Georgia, Bria always had a chip on her shoulder. Unlike the other players from blue blood schools, she had always been the lone star on her team, the one everyone looked to for big plays, and that had carried over to her NWSL career with Sky Blue FC before being loaned to Atletico Madrid last season. “How's it going in Hollywood?”

“About as bad as you'd expect,” rued Paige. “Is it any better in Madrid?”

“We're contending for the league title, we just knocked off Barca 3-0 in their building, so I can't complain,” Bria said, grinning. “Maybe you'll have better fortunes at Duke, with all those other future national teamers.”

“Yeah, I hear we have a couple green players this match,” chuckled Paige, pulling on a warm up jacket over her Red Bull New York tee shirt. “You should be happy you're our undisputed number one. Us forwards have to fight for our spots.”

“I had to fight as hard as you did when that injury tore my shoulder up,” Bria replied indignantly. 

“True, I'm sorry,” Paige muttered. “Hey, there's the new girls,” she added as Nina and Jayce walked into the locker room, both wearing Duke shirts. “The famous Nina Morgan-Carrasco, and… What's your name, again?”

Jayce frowned when Paige didn't know who she was. This wasn't how she envisioned meeting the star player of the team. “Uh… Jayce. Jayce Cruz.” 

“Welcome to the team, Jayce. If you're related to who I think you are, this will be the first of many national team trips for you,” Paige said. “What position do you play?”

“Winger. I take after my mom,” Jayce said. And then she saw Bria, and ran over to her. “Wow, I'm one of your biggest fans, I can't believe I'm actually meeting you!” she said excitedly. “I had your jersey when you were with Sky Blue.”

“Thanks kid,” laughed Bria. “GK is the most thankless position, it's nice to hear someone say they like what you do.”

While they were talking, some of the other players and coach Holiday walked into the locker room, getting everyone's attention. “As you see, we've got some young blood entering the squad. Help them learn the ropes, even though they're Blue Devils.”

The ex Carolina players laughed and Lauren continued. “We play in two days and the game will be nationally televised on Fox. Make sure you train hard, unless you want to slip up as the whole nation watches.”

\-----

The match was under the lights, in prime time in the AlamoDome. As Jayce ran on the pitch for warmups, she wa surprised by how large the crowd was, and how loud it was. It was like no game she had ever competed in before, with both sets of fans standing behind the goals trying to out-chant each other, the building being sold out all the way up to the nosebleed sections near the top of the building. 

She pulled off her track jacket, revealing the all black navy third kit with navy sleeves that the USA was wearing tonight, with five stars above the crest. Mexico was wearing white and green, and the color contrast only served to show how different the rivals were. 

“You feeling nervous?” asked Nina, sounding perfectly calm. 

“Of course, I've never played in front of so many people,” replied Jayce. 

“You'll handle it just fine,” Nina said. “Just remember to keep your head up, and to look for space.”

Jayce nodded but she wasn't listening. She had a self conscious look on her face, and she began walking back to the locker room. “Hey! Where are you going?” asked Paige, following her. “We start in less than ten minutes.”

“I can't do it,” Jayce muttered. “I can't play in front of all these people, what if nobody likes how I look, or if I play badly and let everyone down?”

“You look fine,” sighed Paige. “And focus on not letting that happen, this is what we were training for.”

“I do not look fine!” Jayce replied, leaning against the wall. “It's too many people, I can't play in front of all of them.”

Paige grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her forward. “Jayce. Look at me. There's nothing wrong with you. Even if some idiot in the stands thinks so, it doesn't matter, everyone on the squad likes you. You won't know what they think about you if you don't even go out there.”

“What do you think about me?”

“I think you look cute,” Paige said after a pause. “Now come on. We have a match to win.”

Jayce took three deep breaths before following Paige back onto the pitch. The anthems were about to start and the energy in the stadium was nothing short of electric, especially for a friendly. This was her chance, her chance to take her spot as a star. 

\-----

“Starting in the attack, number seven, Nina Morgan-Carrasco,” the PA announcer said, reading out the lineups just before the match would start. “Number nine, Paige Donovan. And finally, number two, Jayce Cruz.”

Jayce felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest, and she looked over at Paige, who grinned and gave her a thumbs up. “Come over here for a sec,” Paige said as the rest of the team was heading to the huddle one last time. 

“You know what you need?” asked Paige. “A distraction. Something to take your mind off the first few minutes of the game so you can stop being so nervous.”

Jayce wondered what she was playing at. “What do you have in mind?”

“If you play decent tonight, you win a prize tonight. If you score, you get a better prize. And you get the best prize if you can score the winner. I'll leave you to figure out what the prizes are,” Paige said before winking and walking off.

What could she mean? Jayce would have to find out another time, they had a game to win now.


	9. Stand Up

Mexico had equalized in the 80th minute on a deflected shot off of a cross, but Jayce had a chance to break the 1-1 deadlock late, as she was on an open field breakaway. Nina passed her the ball which she received without breaking her stride.

She ran down the wing and towards goal, stuttering slightly to throw off the keeper before firing a rocket of a shot into the corner for the game clinching goal. She didn’t have to think about it, it was purely instinct, but when she realized that she had scored the game winner, she felt an adrenaline rush like no other in her life. Someone let out a guttural victory cry, and only a few seconds later it was that she realized that it was her. 

“Oh my God, that was amazing!” shouted Nina, jumping on her shoulders in celebration. Paige also ran over to them, and the three players hugged as the Mexicans lamented leaving Jayce so wide open. 

The final whistle blew not long after and the USA came out narrowly on top. Jayce was almost shocked as she went to the locker room, all the older players telling her how great her goal was. She wanted to brag, she wanted to use this as a chance to gain some popularity with them, but she reverted back to being shy, blushing as Bria told her that she was going to be someone big on the international stage soon.

“I'm just focusing on Duke for now,” she said humbly, lowering her head. Why couldn't she look Bria in the eye? She hated how shy she got in situations like this. 

“You don't need to act all humble,” Bria laughed. “Enjoy your moment of fame, kid. You never know how long it will last.”

As Jayce changed, Paige approached her, looking unsure. “Well, I lost a bet to you,” she said. “I didn't think you'd actually score the game winner.”

 

“Oh yeah, what did I win?” Jayce asked, grinning. She might be shy but something about Paige put her at ease like none of her other teammates did. 

“A one night stand, take it or leave it,” Paige said, shrugging. “Like I said, I didn't think you would do that good. No offense.”

Jayce’s face went red and she struggled to think of how to reply. “Uh…” she stuttered, blushing even more. It was now that she really noticed how much more attractive Paige was than her other teammates, with her blond hair and blue eyes, her toned legs and athletic midsection. Jayce felt strange looking at a girl like this, something she didn't think she would do after her last breakup, and it especially felt weird because of her being unsure about her sexuality, but Paige had that effect on her. “Sure.”

It couldn't hurt, right? Paige had said ‘one night stand’, which meant they wouldn't have to worry about what happened afterwards. “I was hoping you'd say that,” Paige chuckled. “Meet me at my room tonight, I guess. Consider it your official welcome to the squad.”

When Paige walked away, Nina ran up to Jayce, excited about something. Jayce could tell from the look on her face, she looked like a child who was about to go to Disneyworld. “Hey Jayce, I know you're probably super tired from the match but you can still handle going out tonight, right?”

“Depends,” Jayce said, wondering what she was thinking of. “I kind of-”

Nina cut her off, before she could say anything else. “Great! See, my Lakers are going to be playing the Spurs tonight, right here in San Antonio. It's going to be epic, Jayce, the game is for first place in the west. You know how competitive the west is. You're gonna come with me, right?”

Jayce knew that Paige was expecting her, but she couldn't bring herself to say no to Nina, who looked so… Expectant. Like she wanted nothing more than for her to say yes. “Yeah, sounds fine,” Jayce said, feeling like a total traitor to Paige, who she would be standing up. She liked Nina, though, and if this is what it took to cement her friendship with her, so be it.

“Awesome!” Nina proclaimed, loudly. “It's gonna be nice having another Lakers fan to talk to.”

“Um, you realize I'm from Costa Rica, right?” Jayce asked, laughing and scratching her head. “I don't really have a favorite NBA team, cause all of them were so far away.”

“Don't worry, I'll make a Lakers fan out of you eventually,” Nina said. “Speaking of Costa Rica, how did you like it there? Is it as nice as they say?”

Jayce thought about it and shrugged. Her childhood was a mixed bag to be honest. “Physically? Yeah, it's beautiful. But in terms of excitement, no way. There's nothing to do if you aren't into nature and you aren't a tourist. My parents like it there, but…”

Jayce stopped herself from continuing, deciding not to go into this. “Hey, is something wrong? What were you going to say?” asked Nina, laying a hand on her shoulder.

“I was going to say that Tobin wouldn't truly know what it's like because she spends all her time in Paris with her job,” sighed Jayce. “She's an assistant at PSG so she has to travel with the team. She doesn't have a lot of time for me.”

“I feel for you, Jayce,” Nina said surprisingly. “My mom, she's a sports agent. I love her and I have a lot of good memories with her growing up, but she's been basically absent since I turned thirteen. My dad isn't bad, but he can be busy with his own work, too. As a teenager, I was pretty much raised by Amy Rodriguez, she's like the cool aunt I never had.”

That made Jayce feel a little better, like she wasn't alone. With the exception of Ander, the others in the latest Duke recruiting class had famous mothers who they all had good relationships with, and sometimes it made Jayce feel like the odd one out. “Oh, this reminds me…” started Nina. “You need to call my mom as soon as you can. She wants to talk about being your agent.”

“Will do,” nodded Jayce. “I don't even have an agent right now, having Alex Morgan as one sounds great.”

\-----

In Chicago, after the road win against Northwestern, a lot of the Duke players were gathered in Avril’s room, watching the post game highlights from the USA vs Mexico match. “Why does Jayce get to have all the fun?” moaned Devin, totally serious. Everyone around her laughed, except for Via.

“I'm jealous, I did not even get a Brazil call up,” Via said, and Devin slid her arm around her waist in a comforting way. Avril, Ander, Cara, and Skylar exchanged looks, noticing that Devin wasn't exactly being subtle in her flirting with Via. 

“The time will come,” Devin assured her. “But hey, at least you get to hang with the cool kids for now,” she added, smiling and gesturing towards the others.

Via muttered what Devin assumed was a curse word in Portuguese, and Devin realized that she actually wasn't in the mood for jokes. Not getting called up to her nation had really hurt her, even if she didn't like the Brazilian team much. “I'm sorry,” Devin muttered, quietly. She had a habit of cracking jokes at the wrong times, and upsetting people because of it. 

“You think Nina has tried to kiss Jayce over or under ten times by now?” Ander muttered as the sports channel replayed Nina’s celebration, jumping onto Jayce’s shoulders. 

“I smell jealousy,” Avril chuckled. “Lots and lots of jealousy…”

“Jealousy of Nina? No,” scoffed Ander. “As far as I know, Jayce is crushing on someone on the national team. And it's not Nina.”

“I bet twenty bucks that it's Donovan,” Devin replied. 

Skylar, who hadn't been in the conversation before, jumped up like she was at an auction. “I bet twenty five that it's Naeher.”

And of course, Avril wasn't about to be outdone. “I bet thirty that Nina has already seduced her and that they'll be a couple by the time they get back to Durham.”

Cara rolled her eyes and joined the betting. “I'm betting thirty five that she's crushing on Ander. And that Ander is crushing on her, too.”

Ander’s eyes widened and she suddenly got defensive. “What? No! No way, I think it's Paige.”

“Admit it, Ander,” Avril said. “You have it hard for her. Don't even try to deny it. I mean, you should have seen yourself after our first game. You were staring at her in the locker room the whole time she was changing, and your eyes got really big and wide when she pulled off her shirt. Hell, even before then, at the first practice, you were blushing for the whole time we were showering afterwards, even though you could hardly see her.”

“Okay, okay, so what if I do like her?” Ander asked, sighing. “I'm hopeless at flirting, at least compared to Nina. And there's no way I'm going against Paige for her, if she really is into her.”

“Ask Devin for lessons, whatever she does seems to work on Via,” Skylar teased, making Devin laugh and show a thumbs up sign. 

“Yeah, Ander, let me help you,” Devin said. “Gimme a week with you and you'll be the smoothest one on the team, guaranteed.” 

“How…?” was all Ander said, interested now.

“For one, we’re getting you a haircut tomorrow. No offense but you look like Kyle Beckerman in his prime. And then we’re going to teach you how to flirt,” Devin answered with a grin spreading across her face. “And by we, I mean me and Avril.”

“I don't cut my hair,” Ander replied, shaking her head. “I haven't cut it since my freshman year in high school, I'm not going to start now.”

“You want to get your girl, don't you?” asked Devin. “Sometimes you gotta make sacrifices.” 

Ander rolled her eyes. “You sure talk a lot about love, for a single person.”

“Oh, don't worry. She won't be single for long,” remarked Avril, watching Devin move closer to Via. “She might lose her single status by the end of the night at this rate…”

\-----

It was late at night after the game and Jayce was exhausted. Nina was her roommate, and she had already fallen asleep, but Jayce couldn't sleep because she was thinking about Paige and feeling bad about standing her up. 

Eventually, she carefully climbed out of bed and got dressed, slipping out of the room quietly enough to not wake Nina, who was in the other bedroom across from hers. She remembered Paige’s room number and went there, wondering if she was still awake.

The door was unlocked so she walked inside, finding the lights off and everything quiet. Jayce moved to the bedrooms, finding one empty. Great, so Paige had kicked out her roommate because she was expecting Jayce to come over. That made Jayce feel even worse. 

She moved to the other bedroom and found Paige sound asleep. So it was too late to apologize, but at least Jayce could do something to make things right. She climbed into bed next to Paige, deciding that she could sleep here and apologize in the morning. 

Oh how she wished that she knew beforehand how much trouble she was causing.


	10. Story

“Mom, can I borrow your car?” Devin asked Kelley, after practice. “I promise I'm not gonna crash or run into anyone, like last time.”

Kelley looked at her daughter suspiciously, which was like looking at a spitting image of herself, just without her shade of hair. “Where are you going?”

“Just around town, with Avril and Ander,” Devin replied hopefully. 

“Yeah, sure,” Kelley said, shrugging. Avril seemed mature enough to keep Devin from doing anything too stupid. “Just be back in time for the flight to Durham.”

“Thanks!” Devin said as she went to look for Ander, who had checked out of practice a little early. She found her at the hockey rink near the football pitch, watching from the stands as the men's hockey team at Duke trained. 

She was absorbed in what was going on until she saw Devin. “What are you doing here?” she asked when Devin approached her. 

“Looking for you,” Devin answered. “You ready to get that haircut?” 

After much convincing, Ander had finally agreed last night to cut her hair, deciding to do it to impress Jayce. “I'm not sure ready is the right term but yeah. Let's go.”

\-----

Jayce woke up before Paige, the sunlight brightening the room a little bit as morning came. She decided not to wake Paige but to instead wait for her to get up and talk to her as soon as she woke up.

Sleepily, Jayce reached for her phone and checked for new texts. There was one from Erica, asking how she was doing. She sent back a quick reply saying that she was feeling good, and then she saw a text from Devin. It read, “Can't wait till you're back… we've got a   
SURPRISE for you!”

Jayce chuckled to herself and replied, asking for a hint, before turning her phone off and adjusting the covers on top of her. “You woke?” Paige asked after a few minutes, making her jump.

“Oh, yeah,” she said after rolling over to face Paige, who was beautiful even when she just woke up. “About last night, sorry… I didn't know that-”

“Know that what?” Paige asked, cutting her off. Her blue eyes caught Jayce’s gaze and she instinctively looked away. 

“I didn't know that Nina would ask me to go to a basketball game with her,” Jayce sighed. “I'm really sorry.”

“Who the fuck picks basketball over sex?” Paige muttered to herself, frowning before looking at Jayce and smirking. “We still can, you know,” she said confidently. 

“We can what?”

Paige didn't answer, she just climbed on top of Jayce, who was lying on her back. Her confidence made Jayce nervous, especially in situations like this. Paige straddled her waist, leaning forward so she was close to her face. “This,” she replied simply, pulling the white tee shirt she had worn to bed over her head and off.

Jayce could swear that her heart started beating so fast she couldn't feel it anymore, as she saw Paige’s bare chest. She might be an athlete but if she wasn't, Jayce thought it was safe to assume that she would be a actress or a model because of her great looks. “Stop staring,” Paige teased, making Jayce blush more than she already was. 

Suddenly they were interrupted, when the bedroom door opened and someone walked in. Nina. “Hey Paige, have you seen-” she started, but she stopped when she saw what was happening. “Um, I guess I'll leave you two alone…”

Paige looked surprised but then went back to her confident usual self, smirking. “You look like you just saw a ghost,” she said, climbing off of Jayce.

Nina rolled her eyes and stormed off, followed by Jayce who jumped out of bed as fast as she could and ran after her. When she caught up with her, she was in the hallway. “Nina, wait up! That was NOT what it looked like! Well it kind of was but-”

“You don't have to explain,” Nina said, sadly. “It would've been cool if you could have not decided to sneak around in the middle of the night to be with Paige. You could have just told me.”

“We didn't do anything,” Jayce blurted out. “She just took her shirt off, that's all that happened.”

“Yeah right,” Nina laughed darkly. “Why were you in bed with her in the first place?” 

Jayce sighed before explaining what had happened last night and how she had felt bad and wanted to talk with Paige in the morning. Nina just stared blankly at her, not sure if she could believe the story or not. “I'm not stupid, Jayce,” she said eventually, shaking her head. “Like I said, you could have just said that you and her are a couple.”

As Nina stormed off again, obviously upset, Jayce went back to Paige’s room, where she was getting dressed. “Do you still want to do… What we were doing?” she asked, but Paige looked at her clock and sighed. 

“We have a flight to catch, now. Maybe another time,” Paige said, which made Jayce want to kick herself. She had pissed off her friend for this and yet she didn't even get anything in return. 

But Paige was right, they did have a flight to catch. Maybe that would take Jayce’s mind off of how bad her decision making had been these past few days. 

\-----

Jayce, Nina, and Paige got back earlier than the rest of the team, which had been on a road trip to Chicago where they defeated Northwestern in their backyard. When they finally got back to campus, the trio of national teamers were waiting to welcome them back, but Jayce was quite surprised when she saw Ander. 

Even Nina looked surprised, surprised at how she had got rid of her dreadlocks and straightened out her hair. “You finally got your hair cut and I missed it on a national team trip?” laughed Nina, approaching the group that had just arrived. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“It wasn’t my idea,” Ander said, glancing at Devin. Jayce noticed that she was also dressed in a style that looked like it suited Devin better, wearing what could only be described as ‘hipster’ clothes.

“I can tell,” Nina said, looking her over one more time. “My guess is you’re trying to impress someone, and by someone I mean Jayce.”

“Am I that obvious?” asked Ander, with a frown.

Nina smirked and nodded. “Yes, you are. Also, you should know that she banged Paige earlier, your chances aren't gonna be that great.”

Ander’s jaw dropped before she put on a calm face, but she freaked out a little when she saw Jayce approaching her. She made up a quick excuse about having to go to her room and ran off before Jayce could say anything.

“What's with her?” Jayce asked curiously, watching her run away to the dorms.

“Go talk to her yourself and find out,” Nina chuckled, and Jayce shrugged and ran after Ander, running through the dorms until she reached her room and found the door locked.

“Can I come in?” she asked after knocking once and not getting a reply. 

Ander finally opened the door, and she looked considerably upset about something. “What's wrong?” Jayce asked, stepping inside.

“It's nothing, really,” Ander lied, her voice betraying her feelings. “I just had a bad time on the flight, that's all.”

“Was it something with your parents?”

“Huh, no… I'm fine,” Ander said, sitting down on her bed. “I really am.”

Jayce sighed and placed her hands on her hips. “If you don't tell me, I'm going to find out what's wrong from Avril,” she said. 

Ander looked like she was going to argue but then her face softened and she looked like she was about to cry. “Okay,” she started, taking a deep breath. “Have you ever found someone, and even though you haven't known them for a long time, they make you feel things that you didn't think you would feel ever again? That's… That's what happened to me.”

Jayce sat down next to her, now interested more. “Why are you sad then? Shouldn't you be happy?”

“Well, what if the person I'm into is already with someone? What if that someone is a teammate of mine?” Ander asked, clenching her fist. “Can't you see why I'm upset?”

“Who is it? Who do you like?” Jayce asked, putting a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. 

“It's not important…” she muttered, covering her face with her hands to mask the tears that were welling in her eyes.

“I just want to help you, maybe if-”

“I said it's not bloody important!” Ander shouted, and the next few moments were a very awkward silence. “It's not like I had a chance with her anyway.”

Jayce decided it would be best to change the subject. “What's with the new haircut? I really liked the dreads you had before.”

“I thought I'd be able to impress that girl, so I let Devin take me to a stylist and pick my clothes,” sighed Ander. “I like my own style better.”

“Devin’s style is a bit hard to pull off,” Jayce stated. “I thought you looked better before… You were more natural looking.” 

Ander shrugged and got up. “I think I'm going to change into something more comfortable. 

She went into the other room and when she came back, she was more casual looking. She wore black jeans, a black Grand Theft Auto tee shirt, and a backwards West Ham cap. “Is that a reference to where you're from?”

Ander nodded and grinned. “I miss the GTA, to be honest. I know I haven't been gone for long but…” she started, before pausing. “Damn.”

“What's wrong?” asked Jayce, watching Ander’s face closely.

“There's so many memories there. Good and bad. Moving away, it just feels wrong.”

“I understand,” said Jayce. “As much as I complain about Costa Rica being boring, I'm having a harder time than I thought adjusting also. We’ll get through it together, Ander.”

Ander sat next to Jayce again, laying down on the bed so her legs were across Jayce’s lap. “I feel bad doing this… Crying about my problems to you, I mean.”

“Ander… You know I'm here to listen when you need to talk, you don't have to feel bad about it,” Jayce replied, frowning. “I actually want to know more… More about your past.”

Ander smiled slightly, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. “Okay. Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a girl from… Let's call this place Devil-Land, you can figure out for yourself why they call it that. As a little girl, she wanted nothing more than to be a boy. She cut her hair short, wore boy clothes, played football and rugby with the boys from her school, and generally acted as boyish as possible. Her mom was the opposite, more of a girly girl, but she didn't mind what her daughter wore and did as long as she got good grades and stayed out of trouble. Enter puberty. Everything changes. The girl gets into the wrong crowd, and her mom is pissed that her grades are slipping and how all she cares about are her friends and her sports. Well, this girl, she's a huge fan of West Ham. She wanted to be a West Ham hooligan so badly that it wasn't even funny.”

Jayce begun to realize what the story meant, but she stayed silent as Ander continued. “One night, West Ham were playing one of those garbage North London teams, away. She really wanted to go, and she met this other girl at school who was a West Ham fan. She knew her mom would never let her go with a stranger, so she guessed that asking forgiveness was better than asking permission, and she and that girl took the train to London and went to the match anyway. The Hammers got hammered, pun intended, but afterwards, on the ride back, the two girls really hit it off. They went from being schoolmates to being friends to making out, all in one day.” 

Who was the girl that had became Ander’s friend and then lover? Jayce wanted to know. But she kept her mouth shut, engrossed in the story. “The girl comes back home and her mother is livid, and when she sees the older girl that seduced her daughter, she's even more pissed. When the two start dating, she tries to blame the girlfriend on her daughter’s bad grades and increasingly frequent trouble at school, until she has enough and decides to move out of the country to a place we’ll refer to as Mapleland. The girl was absolutely heartbroken, and her relationship with her mom never recovered after that. Her mom tried to get her to act more like the perfect little daughter she had imagined that she would be, but it never worked. The girl went through a depressed phase, a phase that she still has scars from. Literally. But when she was seventeen, things started looking brighter because she found a new girlfriend and-”

As Ander was continuing, the door to the room opened and Avril stepped in. “Coach Lloyd wants to see everyone for a team meeting in five minutes, don't be late,” was all she said before shutting the door again. 

“I wanna know what happens,” groaned Jayce, but Ander was getting up already.

“Later. We’ll finish the story tonight, I'm not in the mood to face the wrath of Coach,” she chuckled, before leaving. Jayce followed her, but her mind wasn't on the team meeting they were about to go to, no. It was on the story, and trying to figure out what had really happened in Ander’s past.


	11. Trust

That night, Jayce couldn’t wait to hear the rest of Ander’s story. But she would have to wait, because just now she had been pulled aside by Cara, who was asking for her help with something. “Slow down… What do you want my help with?” Jayce asked, as Cara was talking too fast for her to understand.

Cara took a deep breath, as if she had to calm herself down. “I need you to help me out with something that could totally get us in trouble but I really need to do… Do you have any experience with shoplifting?”

Jayce was going to reply but she paused, examining the look on Cara’s face before continuing. She looked desperate, like she really needed to do this, but Jayce didn’t get why. “Um, no, sorry. Isn’t stealing, you know, wrong?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but I want to get Skylar something nice and I’m broke right now,” sighed Cara, calming down some more. Before she continued, they were interrupted by Skylar approaching them.

“Cara, can we talk about something?” she asked, making Cara nod emphatically. “Sorry, Jayce,” Skylar added as she took Cara by the arm and led her out of the room, back to the dorms. When the two got to their room, Skylar shut the door and sat down on her bed.

“What do you need to talk about?”

Skylar closed her eyes for a minute like she was thinking, and then she started to speak. “I have a confession… I think… I think I like girls.”

Cara was surprised at first but she quickly grew excited, knowing that this meant she had a chance to get with Skylar. But Skylar’s next words really hurt her. “And I think I have a crush on HAO, even though she's already dating Cyra.”

HAO, of course, was Harlyn Aednat O’Reilly, the sophomore midfielder known for her smarts both on and off the pitch. She was the only one on the team who would be a guaranteed top five pick if she declared for the NWSL draft during the offseason. 

“I… Uh… That's great,” Cara said, trying to sound happy for Skylar. “But HAO is already with someone, you know…”

“That's sort of what I want your help with,” sighed Skylar. “Can't you help me find a way to break them up?”

Cara sighed and leaned against the door, feeling terrible right now. If she stayed here any longer, she was going to start crying, and when that happened it took forever for her to pull herself back together. “I'm sorry, Skylar,” she muttered as she opened the door and walked out, walking away from the dorms. She needed air, and she needed to be away from everyone. Far, far away.

\-----

“So, what about the rest of that story?” Jayce asked Ander, who was attempting to make poutine. 

“Where did I leave off?” asked Ander, turning around to face Jayce, who was on the couch watching TV. 

“The part where the girl found a new girlfriend,” Jayce replied. 

“Oh yeah,” started Ander. “Well, like I said, this girl was so depressed, she liked her new home but she missed her friends, especially the girl she left behind. She turned even more to sports, playing hockey and football at the same time. That's when she began to fall for one of her teammates on her football team. This teammate was a midfielder, and she was the most popular girl on the team by far. The girl didn't think her teammate would return her feelings, but she did and they fell really far in love really quick.”

Ander paused before continuing. “It couldn't last, though. The girl’s two sport career was hurting her in both sports, and she wanted to pick hockey over football. Her girlfriend freaked out and begged her to stay on the football team, and so the girl caved and quit hockey for good. She thought it would let them stay together but… But…”

Jayce got up and walked to Ander, who looked like she was about to cry because she had remembered something. “What happened?” she asked softly, wrapping her arms around her in a comforting hug. 

“The Canadian and USA youth teams were playing each other... The girl, she had just joined the United States after representing Canada in hockey and U-17 football. She hadn't seen her girlfriend for a couple weeks because of national team camps for both of them, but when she went to her room, she walked in on her in bed with her best friend from the USA.”

Ander tried to keep herself together but she couldn't stop the tears from rolling down her face, and Jayce hugged her tighter. “Was it Erica and Nina?” she asked, piecing together the details. 

“Yes, and it was my own damn fault,” Ander sighed. “Me and Erica, we never… You know. Because I had never did it with a girl before and I was afraid of what it would be like. Looking back, I know now that she got frustrated and went to Nina when I didn't take her hints.”

“What she did to you was terrible, Ander. You shouldn’t blame it on yourself,” Jayce said. “Why are you still friends with Nina after that?”

“Nina saved my life when I was depressed, you don’t understand,” Ander replied quickly. “We don’t talk about it. We’ve both moved on, we just pretend it never happened. Please don’t be mad at her, Erica is the one who initiated everything.”

“Wow, Erica seemed really nice when I met her,” sighed Jayce, thinking back to how Erica took care of her when she was hungover. 

“She is, most of the time. She’s just liable to completely betray your trust,” warned Ander. “I don’t think her teammates wouldn’t like her if she wasn’t a good midfielder.”

Jayce was about to say something when she received a text from Devin, and checked out what it said. It read ‘Meet me at my room tomorrow before practice, I need your help’. “Huh, I wonder what Devin wants…” Jayce muttered, showing Ander the text.

Ander just grinned and shrugged. “I don’t know her well but judging from hanging out with her so far, it’s some convoluted plan involving someone’s romance.”

Jayce rolled her eyes. “Yeah, probably. I guess I’ll go, though. It could be interesting.”


	12. The Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a short update, next one will be longer I promise!

Cara knew she should be at practice, but she couldn’t make herself go. She was heartbroken, and she didn’t want anyone to see her like this. That was why right now, she was walking through Durham with a hood pulled over her head, trying to find somewhere to sit down and think. Her phone buzzed and she pulled it out of her pocket and looked at it to find that Skylar had sent her a text asking if she was alright, and where she was.

As much as it pained her to ignore Skylar, Cara sighed and didn’t reply. She couldn’t talk to Skylar right now, even though that was unfair to her because she knew that Skylar was unaware of breaking her heart.

There was one person that Cara wanted to talk to, though, someone who had helped her in the past with her love life. She dialed the number and crossed her fingers, hoping she’d called at the right time.

“Hey mom, it’s me,” Cara said as Ali answered. “I need your help with something, it’s about love” she added quickly.

Ali was silent for a few moments before speaking again. “Did you fall in love with a straight girl again?” she asked, remembering the last time her daughter had approached her with a romance problem.

“No no no, she likes girls but… I’m stuck in the friend zone,” Cara replied. “She has no clue that I like her, and she’s so pretty and smart and nice that there’s no way she’ll like me back… She already likes someone else, I don’t know what to do.”

“Have you even tried to get her to like you?” asked Ali. “Have you dropped hints to her?”

“Well, no. It might be too soon-”

“You need to test the waters, Cara. I was nervous too when I first started flirting with Ash, but if I didn’t do that, we never would have realized that we were perfect for each other,” explained Ali. 

“Yeah, thanks mom,” said Cara. 

\-----

“Is that your girlfriend?” Via asked Devin, as Devin browsed the Instagram page of an attractive looking girl that was slightly older than her.

“Huh, no. That’s my sister, Lucy, she plays for the Breakers. She’s visiting soon for our first home game…” Devin stated flatly. 

“You sound upset,” Via replied, as Devin pocketed her phone.

“Yeah, well, she’s better than me at everything. It’s not that I’m upset to see her again, but it would be nice if our parents didn’t favor her so much,” Devin sighed. “She was always the overachiever, and I was just… I was just the goofy little sister.”

They were interrupted when some others entered Devin’s room, responding to her earlier text. “I was told you needed our help,” said Jayce.

“This better be good,” Nina added. 

Devin grinned, nodding. “I assure you that it is. What I need help with is breaking up Harley and Cyra, so Skylar can date Harley. I already have a plan, all we need to do is steal Harley’s phone.”

“Wait wait wait, they’re happy together, why should we break them up?” Jayce asked, annoyed. 

“Because Skylar needs our help, and Cyra is kind of annoying, anyway,” Devin said, rolling her eyes. “She may or may not have said some not nice things to Via in training, also.”

“Okay, fine, what's the plan?” asked Nina. “We just have to get HAO’s phone?”

“Actually it's better if you get Cyra’s,” shrugged Devin. “But either will do. Come on now, we don't want to be late for training.”


	13. Why you always lying

The first home game for Duke was against UCLA, the number three team in the nation, one spot above Duke and two spots below Stanford and North Carolina. Practice for this match, which was one of Duke’s nationally televised matches, was intense, because everyone on the squad wanted to start for this one, and Carli had warned everyone that none of the starters were safe and that they could be replaced if they didn't perform in training.

For Nina, doing good was a matter of knowing her role. Center fielder, false nine, whatever you wanted to call it, Nina knew her position inside out and her main goal was to show the coaches just how well she could play that position.

It was all about versatility, being able to slip into the midfield and change the formation from an attacking 4-2-4 to a pressing 4-3-3, or vice versa. She had to know when to make a run, when to drop back, and when to initiate a counter attack by dropping towards the opponent’s side of the pitch while on defense. 

And Nina was a master at all of this. She read the incoming pass from Via, who was running the central midfield like a pro, and trapped it with her chest, running out wide to the wing. She passed back to Via, who was moving into the same wide position, cutting inside and getting on the end of a well placed cross, heading the ball into goal for her third goal of the training session. “Do any of our wingers know the meaning of tracking back?” she asked sarcastically, which made Skylar frown.

“Not everyone is as fast or naturally athletic as you are,” Skylar remarked, folding her arms. “And don't try and act like you know something about tracking back. You literally spend half the game walking the offside line.”

“You don't have to be fast or amazingly athletic to not be lazy on defense,” Nina muttered, staring down Skylar. “It might not matter in practice, but we’re going to get burned against UCLA’s attack if we leave gaps open on defense like you just did.”

“Hey, leave Skylar alone, it was my fault for pushing too far up,” Cara said, stepping between Skylar and Nina. “I should've stayed back instead of hunting for a goal…”

“Damn right you should have,” Nina said under her breath, walking away. 

“Is there a problem here?” asked Carli, walking onto the pitch and watching Nina sulk away, as Cara and Skylar exchanged some words by the goal. 

“Nina is being a jerk because we’re not dropping back on defense as much as she wants us to,” sighed Skylar. 

Carli looked between Skylar and Nina and the others before shrugging. “Practice is over early today, I've seen enough.”

Meanwhile, Nina was walking over to her parents by the sideline, who were visiting for the game. “Hi mom, hi dad,” she said, hugging both of her parents. “How'd I do out there?”

“I would say you remind me of me, but I don't think I was ever as good as you at beating the offside line,” chuckled Alex, patting her daughter on the back. That was true, Nina had an almost uncanny ability to know exactly where the offside line was, and she always stayed behind it.

“The hat trick sure reminded me of your playing days,” said Nina, grinning. “I just have to do it against UCLA now.”

“If anyone's going to bag a hat trick against a team like them, it's you,” Servando said proudly. He may not have had the playing career of his wife, but he was definitely just as proud as her, even though his daughter was better at footballing now than he had ever been. 

“Eh, Paige is a bit better at actually scoring, I'm not surprised if she breaks through first,” Nina replied. “I'm jealous of her, she's faster and better than me on the pitch and she seduced the girl I like off it it...”

Alex and Servando exchanged a look, wondering who Nina was talking about. Growing up, Nina had tons of crushes ranging from celebrities and athletes(to this day, all it takes is one look from Hope Solo to make Nina blush and look at the ground) to boys and girls she knew at school, and they were used to her reacting badly when a crush turned her down. 

Yes, Nina Morgan-Carrasco had all the determination of her mother, especially when it came to love, and the one thing she hated most was getting rejected. Even if she didn’t know the full story just yet.

\-----

Devin wanted to talk to Hope, who she hadn’t seen in months because of both keepers having busy travel schedules, but she found that her mom was already talking with Lucy, her older sister. “Can you wait a minute, Devin?” asked Hope, and Devin nodded.

“Yeah, sure,” she mumbled, before deciding to walk off and go to the locker room. “Doesn’t matter if I’m number one on the pitch, I’m always going to be number two behind Lucy…”

She unstrapped her Adidas gloves and frustratedly threw them at the wall, sitting down and pulling her shirt off and revealing the ‘Number One’ tattoo on her arm. It was ironic, and the irony of it made her even angrier. “No wonder Lucy turned out to be the better player… Our moms give her all the attention.”

“What’s wrong?” asked a voice from behind her, making Devin jump. It was Via. 

“My parents only care about Lucy, she gets all their attention and well, sometimes it seems like they forget about me,” sighed Devin. “I used to be fine with it because I had good friends in Georgia, but after moving here, I feel like they aren’t the only ones to forget about me.”

Via approached Devin and put her hand on her shoulder, which made her shiver. It was a bit of an awkward moment, with Devin only wearing a sports bra, and Via’s touch made her face go red. “At least you have me,” Via said, smiling slightly.

And then she did what the smaller girl wasn’t expecting, she leaned in and kissed her on the lips, wrapping her arms around her neck. Devin was surprised, almost shocked, at first, but she returned the kiss, letting Via lift her up. 

However, the kiss didn’t last long, because Avril and some of the others walked into the locker room. “Guys, it’s happening,” Avril laughed, and Via and Devin quickly broke away. 

“You saw nothing,” Devin said with a wave of her hand. “I mean, friends kiss each other all the time…”

Everyone laughed, and Avril put her hands on her hips. “Yeah right, I've never seen ‘friends’ making out like that.”

“Okay, okay, I know we kissed but we weren't making out, she-”

Nina held up a hand to stop Devin. “Why lie? We're all fine with it, just keep your hands to yourself in public, ‘kay?”

“Yeah sure,” mumbled Devin, still embarrassed. She was also kind of embarrassed that she was shirtless in front of everyone, showing off her body that was considerably less athletic than everyone else. 

But her mood brightened when Jayce spoke up. “I got you what you're looking for. Nearly got caught but I managed to nab it after practice,” she said, tossing Harley’s phone to Devin, who caught it easily. 

“Thanks Jayce, remind me to buy you a drink tonight,” she said. Her plan was falling into place, now she just needed to convince Paige to help her with the hard part...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Da Solo is officially the first ship to sail! Which one will be next?


	14. The Party

“Hey Ander,” Jayce said, walking into their dorm room that night. She was surprised though when she found her roommate in front of a mirror, trying on a red shirt, a jersey. It was a Canada jersey, number ninety nine, and the back of it read ‘Ander’. “Whoa, is that what I think it is?”

Ander shrugged, smiling just a little. “Canada offered me a call up for next month, I accepted it, and they sent me this. I still haven't broken the news to the others that I'm going to play for Canada again…”

“I thought you couldn't switch once you play competitively?” asked Jayce, looking closer at the jersey. 

“Yeah but I've never capped for the USA. Youth matches don't count, and I didn't get called up to the senior team. I think most of the team will be fine with this but I know Avril and Nina will be pissed… They're the ones who convinced me to go from Canada to the States the first time,” sighed Ander. “Also, there's a sorority party tonight, you coming?”

“Sure, which one is hosting it?”

“Uh… I think they're called Delta Delta Delta or something like that,” said Ander, before finding an invitation and handing it to Jayce. 

“Strange name, but I've seen some of their members around campus,” Jayce replied. “I'll go but um, I have no idea what to wear to a party like this. We don't really have big parties in the city I'm from.”

“You don't have to wear anything fancy, just dress casual,” Ander explained. “Besides, you look good enough that you don't need fancy clothes.”

Jayce blushed, nodding and managing a smile. “Thanks, I could say the same about you?” she said awkwardly, the sentence coming out more as a question than a statement. 

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, really,” chuckled Jayce, approaching Ander and putting her hand on her face, her cheek to be specific. “You’ve got your dad’s face and your mother’s eyes. You’re not someone who needs to dress up to look nice.”

Both girls were blushing now, and they kind of just stared at each other until Ander broke eye contact and looked away. “I’ll just wear this, then. You want to get something to eat first?”

Jayce smiled, nodding. “Yeah, I’m starving.”

\-----

“How does she have so much game?” asked Nina, pointing to Paige. Paige was on the other side of the room by the wall, surrounded by three sorority girls who were laughing at all her jokes and generally swooning over her. 

“She’s like you when you were in high school,” laughed Ander, partly laughing at how Paige was drawing the attention of all the girls, and partly at how Nina was fuming over it. 

“Oh shut up,” muttered Nina, taking a long sip from the bottle of tequila that she was holding. “I’ve still got game,” she added with a grin.

“If by ‘game’ you mean you can flirt with Jayce all the time, then yeah,” Ander said, leaning against the wall, the hood of the red hoodie that she was wearing covering part of her face. “I remember when guys and girls used to throw themselves at you when we were on international duty.”

“I can still get anyone in bed if I want,” Nina replied, drinking some more. “Well, maybe not Jayce. But anyone else.”

Ander rolled her eyes dismissively. “And I bet you twenty bucks that you can’t get with Paige.”

Nina was not one to back away from a challenge, so she just nodded and smiled. “Oh you of little faith,” she muttered, before taking another long gulp of tequila. Liquid courage, she called it, and she would need all the courage she could get before doing what she was about to do.

All eyes were on Nina as she walked over to Paige and pushed away the three sorority girls. She said something to Paige, before pulling her into a kiss. “What the hell is she doing?” asked Jayce, moving over to Ander from the other side of the room. 

“I made a bet that I didn’t think she would accept,” muttered Ander, watching Paige and Nina making out. Eventually, the two stopped and Nina took Paige by the hand, leading her away.

“Are they doing what I think…?”

“Nina will do anything for a bet,” nodded Ander. “But don’t worry about her, I don’t think she’s going to be remembering this tomorrow.”

\-----

The next morning, Nina actually didn’t remember anything. She awoke slowly, with a slight headache and feeling disoriented, probably from all the alcohol last night. Usually she didn’t get hungover, but she had done a lot of drinking the night before…

“What the…?” Nina muttered as she rolled over and found Paige lying naked in her bed, the covers pulled slightly over her. Paige seemed to be asleep, and as Nina saw her, the memories flooded back into her mind. “Shit. I can’t believe I did that…”

She closed her eyes and sighed, the shock of the moment helping her headache to fade. And then she shook Paige by the shoulders, trying to wake her up. “Did you have fun last night?” Paige asked after waking up, a shit eating grin spreading across her face. 

Nina took a deep breath, sighing again. “Last night meant absolutely nothing, just so you know. I’m not your girlfriend now or anything like that, hell, I’m not even really your friend, we’re still rivals and last night only happened because I was drunk and took a bet.”

“I know,” replied Paige, leaning back and closing her eyes. “But did you at least enjoy it?”

“It was alright,” Nina said, and there was awkward silence while both girls sat next to each other, their bodies almost touching. 

“Just alright, huh? It didn’t seem just alright when I had you screaming my name,” Paige chuckled.

Nina stayed silent for a couple seconds, before finally smiling. “Okay, I admit it. That was the second-best sex I’ve ever had. But it still didn’t mean anything.”

“What was the best?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Nina remarked quickly. “You know, it wouldn’t hurt to go for one more round…”

“Sounds good,” Paige replied, before kissing Nina on the forehead and pulling her closer. She was about to kiss her again when a knock on the door made the two girls jump.

“Practice is in five minutes, don’t be late!” shouted Avril, and Nina sighed.

“We’ll finish this later,” she said, and even though she absolutely hated to admit it, she really did intend on finishing what she just started.


	15. Little Sister

“I fuck everything up, don’t I?” Devin muttered to herself, standing in goal against UCLA. The Bruins had a free kick chance to score the go ahead goal and break the 1-1 tie late in the game, their attack overpowering the Duke defense for most of the match because of Paige losing her head and getting a red card five minutes into the match. The Duke midfield was playing quite underwhelming, notably because of HAO being too sad and pissed off to focus on playing.

The blame fell on Devin’s shoulders for that, because of what she had done earlier in the day; She got Paige to send some texts to Harley’s phone to make it look like they were cheating on Cyra, and then Devin left the phone for Cyra to find. 

But even though Devin was helping a friend, she almost felt bad now. She had expected Harley to be mad and maybe to argue against this, but instead she had just accepted with sad resignation that someone had framed her. 

“Focus,” Devin told herself, getting into her stance as one of UCLA’s forwards started her run up to the ball. The ball was struck perfectly, it curved around the wall and towards the goal, like a knuckleball, but Devin’s reactions were faster. She dove to the right, getting one hand against the ball and turning it against the post, allowing Cara to clear the ball deep downfield. 

“You’ve saved our ass too many times this match,” muttered Cara, taking a breather before running down the wing and looking to help the attack.

\-----

Jayce had a choice to make. Try and make a run through two defenders to score, pass a through ball to Paige on the wing and hope that she could reach it, or take a long shot from outside of the box and pray for a miracle goal with the match winding down.

After making a split second decision, Jayce put the ball out wide and watched as Paige beat the offside line to get to it, switching feet before sizing up the ball and taking a powerful shot that beat the keeper at her near post. 

Paige was almost shocked by her goal. She hardly even celebrated, she just kissed her shirt before nearly getting tackled by Nina, who ran from midfield to jump into her arms. The other players were shocked too, including the UCLA players who had blown the game with six minutes left.

“That pass was impossible,” Ander told Jayce, grinning. “How do you do it?”

“To be honest, it’s all instincts,” Jayce admitted. “I don’t know how Paige can shoot like that though… The ball was still spinning, it should’ve went over the bar.”

“That’s why she’s the national team’s striker at only nineteen,” Ander replied. “She’s like Ruud Van Nistelrooy in his prime when it comes to finishing.”

“Better than you?” Jayce chuckled, and Ander nodded.

“Let’s just say I’m happy I’m playing for Canada and not the States.”

\-----

“Great game, Dev,” Hope told Devin, at the party after the game. “You looked like Lucy when she made twenty four saves against Stanford.”

Devin just blinked a few times, before nodding. “Yeah, mom. I looked just fucking like her,” she snapped, before turning and storming out. Something about the comparison struck a nerve in her, she was pissed off that even after the best game of her career, she was being compared to Lucy. 

Despite Hope calling for her to come back, Devin went straight to her room and slammed the door behind her, flopping down on her couch and closing her eyes. “I’m never going to be the player she is,” she said to herself, a tear rolling down her cheek. “I’m just another stupid jock.”

Right now, all Devin wanted was to be better than Lucy at something. Lucy always had better grades, had even more friends, was loved by everyone, and she was a dominant player on the pitch. Even when Devin went pro, she still wouldn’t be as good as Lucy, who had been taken number one overall by the Breakers. Her only consolation was that Lucy had never started for the national team, because of multiple badly timed injuries, but it wasn’t like Devin was in a position to get called up. 

“Can I come in?” someone called from outside, probably someone who had seen Devin leaving the party.

“The door’s unlocked,” Devin called back, with a sigh. She didn’t feel like talking with anyone, but she didn’t complain when Jayce walked in. 

“Hey, you looked really upset, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing you’d understand,” Devin said quickly, before sighing. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude, but I really don’t think you can get it. You don’t have siblings… Or depression.”

“But I can’t help at all if you won’t tell me what’s wrong.”

“Okay, fine. If you really want to know, I’ll explain,” said Devin. “But I don’t know why you want to help me, I don’t even deserve it.”

\-----

Nina pulled Paige inside her room and slammed the door, locking it to make sure nobody walked in on them. “I’ve been waiting all day for this,” she said, her heart rate rising by the second. 

“But it still doesn’t mean anything, right?” Paige asked with a smirk, cocking her head to the side.

“Shut up and kiss me,” Nina replied, pulling Paige into her and kissing her on the lips. Paige didn’t resist, wrapping her arms around Nina’s neck. 

“I thought we were rivals,” Paige muttered as they broke away. “This doesn’t seem like something that rivals do.”

“Goddammit Paige, stop trying to overthink everything,” Nina said. “Look, I act like I don't like you because you scare me, and I'm jealous of you. I hate how you're popular with everyone without even trying, and how you score effortlessly on the pitch while I have to fight for every goal. But I don't really dislike you.”

“Do you act like this around all your crushes?” Paige asked, a grin crossing her face. 

“I don't have a crush! Well, maybe, but not like… Not-” Nina started, but she was cut off when Paige kissed her, pulling her towards the bedroom. 

Yes, their relationship was a very strange one right now, based more on lust than mutual understanding, but it was undeniable to Nina that her little fling was going to turn into something more; Something far bigger.


	16. The Next Level

As Duke’s team grew closer together, days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months, and as the hot days of summer turned to fall, conference play was almost starting. Duke would carry an undefeated record into the start of conference games, but they still didn’t get the respect they deserved; Stanford was number one, by way of strength of schedule.

The team did have one thing that they lacked starting off, chemistry on the pitch. Coach Lloyd had gotten to know her players better over the summer and had also learned how to use them better in big games. The players themselves had grown closer, too, with Jayce and Nina becoming both close friends and stars on the pitch. 

In the back, however, Duke was inconsistent and streaky. Devin looked like a world beater on some days and on other days, she looked like she wasn’t good enough to be on the squad, which was evident in Duke’s 6-5 win at Perdue to finish off the nonconference part of the season. Cara Krieger always seemed to be riding on her emotions, playing great and being a shutdown defender when they were high and crashing completely when she was feeling upset because of off the pitch things, mainly her crush being too enamored with Harley to notice her.

In the midfield, Via was the undisputed star but she felt left out because she was the only Brazilian on the squad. She loved Devin, she really did, but sometimes it was hard to relate to her because of how different their upbringings were. 

She felt like she had to talk to someone about it, so after practice, she got up and found the courage to approach Kelley about it. “Hey, coach O’Hara? Can I talk to you about something?” she asked, as most of the team were heading to the showers.

“Of course. Is something bothering you?” asked Kelley, breaking away from the main group for a minute. 

“Yes… Please don’t take this the wrong way, coach, I hope you know that I love this team and that I love your daughter more than anything, but-”

“Are you thinking of dumping Devin?” Kelley snapped, cutting her off. But she softened her tone when she saw the horrified expression on the Brazilian girl’s face. “I’m sorry, I guess Hope was right when she said that I’m overprotective.”

“I… I would never do that, coach,” Via replied, nervously wiping some sweat off of her forehead. “I love Devin, I would never think of doing something like that…”  
“So if you aren’t asking for permission to dump her, are you asking for permission to sex her up?” 

Via’s eyes widened at that question and she shook her head rapidly. “N-n-no coach, you didn’t let me finish! I was saying that even though I love her, it’s hard to relate to her sometimes… And that goes for the rest of the squad, too. I was asking if you could talk to Carli about bringing on another Brazilian player, it would help me feel more at home.”

Kelley was surprised by the request but she looked like she understood. “The roster rules don’t quite work that way, unfortunately. We can’t just bring on a new player in the middle of the season. We can push to get a Brazilian recruit for next season though.”

Via nodded, starting to turn away. “Oh… Sorry for wasting your time, then.”

Kelley just smiled. “It’s no problem, Via. And by the way, even though you weren’t asking about it, you do have permission to show my daughter a good time… With all her problems on the pitch, she could really use a distraction.”

“Um, okay…” Via said, her face turning red as she blushed. She then ran off, trying to keep the conversation from getting any more awkward than it had already been.

\-----

That night, Devin was in her room, looking through her clothes to try and find something to put on for when the team went out to eat that night. She was about to pick a shirt when the door opened and Via walked in, interrupting her. “Hey Via, want to tell me which shirt looks better for tonight?” she asked, turning around. 

“Er, can we stay in tonight?” blurted out Via, forcing a smile. “I don’t really feel like going out, could we just stay in and watch Netflix or something?”

“If you want,” Devin said, not feeling like staying in but wanting to please her girlfriend. “Paige is always out really late, anyway, maybe we can catch up with her later if we feel like it.”

And so they ended up on the couch together, watching TV shows for a couple hours until Devin was very nearly ready to sleep. “I think I’m going to head to bed… I’m still aching from practice earlier.”

Via followed her, except she wasn’t set on quickly getting to sleep. When Devin climbed into bed, she positioned herself behind her and wrapped her arms around her, trying to make sure she did what Kelley had told her to do earlier. “What are you doing…?” muttered Devin as Via kissed her shoulder. 

She ignored her at first and continued to kiss her, until Devin shrugged her away and repeated the question. “Devin… You know how much I love you, right? I thought it might be time for our relationship to go to the next level.”

“You want to have sex?” Devin asked, point blank. She sounded more scared, than anything.

“Yeah… But only if you want it! I thought you would want to…”

“I don’t know how…” Devin muttered quietly, rolling onto her back. “I actually have a confession to make. Even though I talk about love all the time and try to act like a player… I… I’m actually a virgin.”

“I am, too,” admitted Via, frowning. “But I watched videos about it earlier, I think I could do it if you wanted me to.”

“Why are you suddenly interested in sex?” Devin asked as Via tried to move closer to her and kiss her jaw. “Can’t we… Wait until we’re not both tired?”

“But your mother wanted me to do this,” Via sighed, when Devin pushed her away again. “I don’t want to disappoint her.”

Devin opened her mouth to say something and then took a long pause. “I’m not even going to ask…” she muttered, making a mental note to speak to Kelley. “We can do it tomorrow morning… Just not now.”

“Thanks,” said Via, before rolling over, but deep down she felt disappointed, like she had just been rejected. Devin quickly went to sleep, but she spent a while longer awake, contemplating what had just happened. The next morning would be interesting, that was definite.


End file.
